Argentina Prosecutor Alberto Nisman Death Update: President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner Says Man Accusing Her of Protecting Iran Was Murdered to Hurt Her
Argentine President Cristina Kirchner said Thursday she believes the suspicious death of a prosecutor was murder in an attempt to implicate her government in the 1994 cover-up of a Jewish community center bombing.
Yahoo! News reports Alberto Nisman, 51, the lead prosecutor in the case that spanned two decades, was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head. His body was found in his apartment in the upscale Puerto Madero neighborhood of the capital Buenos Aires.
Nisman's death came the day before he was to attend a congressional hearing to accuse Kirchner of protecting Iranian officials implicated in the 1994 attack.
Investigators have said that it appears Nisman committed suicide, but they have not ruled out foul play.
Kirchner, however, posted a disturbing post on her Facebook page stating that Nisman was deliberately killed to create a government scandal after he was "used" to accuse her of involvement in the bombing cover-up.
"I'm convinced that it was not suicide," Kirchner wrote. "Prosecutor Nisman's charges were never in themselves the true operation against the government. They collapsed early on. Nisman did not know it and probably never knew it. The true operation against the government was the prosecutor's death after accusing the president, her foreign minister, and the secretary-general of (her political faction) of covering up for the Iranians accused in the attack."
Kirchner offered no evidence nor named who she thinks is responsible for Nisman's death.
Opposition leaders have publicly stated that Kirchner's charges are an opportunistic about-face.
Recently, aides have suggested former intelligence officials who were recently fired killed Nisman.
In the days leading up to his death, Nisman had submitted a 280-page complaint accusing Kirchner of issuing an "express directive" to protect Iranians suspected in the 1994 bombing. Nisman believed that the government swapped grain for oil with Tehran in exchange for withdrawing "red notices" to Interpol asking for arrests of accused Iranian officials. The prosecutor backed up his claims with data from intercepted telephone conversations and reports allegedly from two intelligence agents the Intelligence Secretariat said did not work for them.
The bombing of the Buenos Aires headquarters of the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association was the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentina's history. A van loaded with explosives detonated in front of the building, killing 84 and injuring more than 300 people.
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